Series Of Talks To Explain New Health Insurance Exchange

November 26, 2012|BY WILLIAM WEIR, bweir@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

The Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange will hold a series of informational "chats," starting Tuesday in Hartford, on how the nation's health care overhaul will affect people in Connecticut.

Jason Madrak, spokesman for the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange, said the series of chats are part of "an aggressive strategy" to inform the public about how the health exchange will work. He said the talks are particularly useful for those who are uninsured, underinsured and business owners.

"There has been a lot of information about the Affordable Care Act and Exchanges at the 50,000-foot level, but these meetings are designed to bring this information down to the individual level," he said.

The first of the seven informational town hall-style sessions is Nov. 27 at the Hartford Public Library, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Kevin Counihan, the CEO of the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange, will give a brief overview of the Affordable Care Act and how the state's exchange will work, but most of the time will be spent fielding questions from the audience. Besides Counihan, there will be a panel of three or four people from the medical and insurance communities.

As a result of national health care reform, all states must have in place by 2014 a health insurance exchange --online markets where consumers can choose among various health plans, some federally subsidized. Open enrollment begins in October 2013.

All states were required to notify the federal government earlier this month about whether they would be developing their own health insurance exchange or have one implemented by the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

Connecticut officials notified the federal government earlier this month that the state is developing its own exchange. A 700-page "blueprint" on how it will operate was also submitted. The exchange will be entirely funded by federal money through 2014 and is designed to increase the number of state residents who have health insurance.

The following is a schedule of the public discussions on the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange. Registration begins at 5 p.m., events run from 5:30 to 7 p.m.